Zack Wheeler vs. Tim Lincecum — duel of SF Giants No. 1 draft picks

Today’s series finale pits a couple of first-round draft picks of the Giants, Tim Lincecum (10th overall in 2006) and Zach Wheeler (sixth in 2009), the man traded to New York in 2011 to bring another another pennant to San Francisco. Carlos Beltran didn’t turn out to be the savior, in part because he wasn’t healthy in his two months with the Giants, and they failed to reach the playoffs.

Tim Lincecum

Tim Lincecum works against the New York Mets in the first inning. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

With the Mets, Wheeler is 2-5 with a 3.89 ERA — including 1.37 in his last three starts with 23 K’s in 19 2/3 innings. He walked just three batters over the three-game stretch, suddenly finding his control. He has 29 walks on the season, including six on May 13 at Yankee Stadium.

“Power arm,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s gotten a lot better with his secondary pitches. He’s throwing them a lot more more now. He’s got a lot of confidence going. It’s obvious what he thought of this kid by where we drafted him. We had to give him up for a real good player to help us in a pennant run. It looks like he’s getting better and better, and we have our work cut out today. This kid’s got a good arm.”

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Buster Posey and Angel Pagan are out the lineup. Bochy said it was a scheduled off day for both, though Bochy said Pagan is beaten up a little from a slide last night.